RACC Awards Arts Tax Proceeds to 11 Additional Arts Organizations

Portland, Ore – The Regional Arts & Culture Council today awarded an additional $200,883 in public funding to 11 Portland-based arts organizations that qualify for General Operating Support. This is RACC’s second cycle in calendar year 2015 for distributing “arts tax” proceeds; the first cycle was in January and the third cycle will be in June.

Arts organizations receiving grant funding this month include:

BodyVox, $17,569

Cappella Romana, $4,171

Hollywood Theatre, $33,844

Metropolitan Youth Symphony, $5,091

Northwest Children’s Theatre, $39,192

Northwest Dance Project, $26,405

Portland Jazz Festival, $8,322

Portland Baroque Orchestra, $15,865

Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, $4,989

Tears of Joy Theatre, $4,923

Young Audiences of Oregon, $40,512

These grants are made possible thanks to Portland’s voter-approved Arts Education & Access Fund (AEAF, or arts tax), plus $600,000 in gap funding provided by the City of Portland’s fall 2014 Budget Monitoring Process, or Fall BuMP. This fiscal year (from July 1, 2014 to date) RACC has received a total of $1.9 million from the arts tax via Portland’s Revenue Division, $1,723,000 of which is set aside to provide General Operating Support like the grants listed above. $79,000 will be awarded in “Expanding Cultural Access” grants this May, and $102,000 is being used to coordinate arts education activities in Portland’s five school districts. The bulk of arts tax proceeds, more than $6.7 million this year, is going directly to school districts to hire art and music teachers.

The grants awarded this month come in addition to RACC funding that each organization received last fall. Their combined allocations bring all GOS organizations to at least 3.8% public funding of their eligible annual revenues – many steps closer to the AEAF goal of providing 5% public funding. For a list of other “General Operating Support” organizations and other nonprofits that have received arts tax funding, visit www.racc.org/AEAFgrants.